SRI VAISHNAVA CONFERENCES-A POINT OF VIEW

[Guest guest]

OM NAMO BHAGAVATE VASUDEVAYA

SRIMATE RAMANUJAYA NAMAH

 

Dear Bhagavathothamas:

 

I think that Sri T.S. Sundara Rajan was very eloquent when he said as

follows in a recent posting bidding farewell to the Bhakti list.

 

I quote:

 

"Im taking leave of you merely since I have no inter-net access back home.

I have enjoyed being with you all in this conversation over the theme dear

to our heart, namely the SrIvaishNava religion. Most men seem to like their

own persuasion, not because they have been persuaded in any sense of the

term, but merely because they were born into it; they could not be faulted

for it though. All the same, the SrIvaishNava community owes to itself to

develop some specific skills in order to preserve whatever is valuable in

its inheritance, not to lodge the values in good museum space but imbibe

them, so to say, in the bloodstream. Religion flourishes when intellectual

curiosity [the why of things ~ jijnAsA] and emotional insights constantly

inform each other. The SrIvaishNava has therefore a primary duty to

docket basic facts, duly corroborated, and also cultivate a good dilettante

reading as preparation for approaching the philosophical core. We stay

with the English language not on account of any natural proficiency in it

but simply that the internet system is not sensitive to any other language

script. All the more is the need to use this Anglo-Saxon medium with care

and sensitiveness when discussing things vEdic.

The divya-dESam temples of yore, hymned by AzhvAr, are the best definitions

there be of human civilization. Every SrIvaishNava should constantly

think out how best to protect them from creeping encroachments that have

been obtaining for the last four decades.

I send my best wishes for purposeful and information-based interaction in

the ensuing SrIvaishNava conference in Denver billed for Dec 25".

 

It behoves us all, those who are organizing and those who plan to attend

the upcoming Srivaishnava conference in Colorado, and the others to be

organized in the future to pause for a moment and contemplate on the

message conveyed above. Especially, the part about the survival of the

Srivaishnavism as a concept, a religion, philosophy and way of life against

the onslaught of many so called conservative as well as liberal doctrines

being expounded around us, in our neighborhoods and all over the world. And

the part about it being our responsibility to reaffirm our own beliefs and

convictions and most importantly to inculcate those time proven principles

and lifes values in younger members of our generation and those of the

future generations.

 

I cannot help a temptation to quote from an individual who as some of us

know and heard from people who still live among us to this day, stood true

to his principles against many obstacles thrown at him almost every day of

his life, Mahatma Gandhi who once said:

 

"I do not want my house To be walled in on all sides And my windows to be

stuffed

I want the cultures of all the lands To be blown about my house As freely

as possible.

But I refuse to be blown Off my feet by any".

 

This quote may help, among others, to set the tone for our conferences.

That is, we go into these conferences not to disbelieve which we already

believe and practice but to reaffirm our faith relative to all the other

things being thrown at us in the world. We cannot do it by ignoring what is

being thrown at us, but by knowing them and then proving our preferences

for what we already have we can make our children see the point we are

trying to make.

 

Anything we do or dont do however, can be viewed differently depending on

the "POINT OF VIEW" of the viewer.

 

The recent discussion about Yogurt and Ekadashi is a classic example of how

two people can look at the same thing or entity and arrive at different

conclusions. This I think is what we call different view points or

pespectives if you will.

In the yogurt for Ekadashi incident, Sreekrishna did not say if yogurt

could be consumed on an Ekadashi day but defined the characteristics of the

type of yogurt that one should consider using, recognizing the positive and

negative aspects of yogurt as understood by us humans today. This was

perhaps not quite the answer expected by the originators of the question.

Parthasarathi Dileepan on the other hand, came close to answering the

question by saying that no where in the structured lifestyle defined within

the framework of our sampradayam, he could find any reference to yogurt as

a food component for the Ekadashi day. Hence, he invariably concluded that

yogurt was perhaps forbidden to humans on that day.

 

It is important to note that the two did not dismiss yogurt summarily as a

topic for discussion but advertently or inadvertently saw different aspects

of the issue. Both these people took the same question and answered it

differently. Both did not arrive at any conclusion but implied that yogurt

may or may not be used on an Ekadashi day which brings us back to square

one. I should admit however, that Parthasarathy Dileepan was a little more

definitive in his answer because he was willing to believe what was passed

down from generation to generation as a tradition not to use yogurt on

Ekadashi day. He was not willing to question the authority which so

ordained.

 

Whereas, Sreekrishna was willing to side track the tradition which he may

or may not have been aware of, and was willing to use his own judgment as

he percieves physical bodies around him. He was a little more curious than

the former and thought, if eating little or none on an Ekadashi day was the

issue, then, a harmless substance such as fat-free yogurt (if there is such

a thing !) wouldnt really defeat the purpose. He reasoned in his mind that

Yogurt, a product of milk traditionally used by the observers of Ekadashi,

was acceptable as a food component.

 

One had the perception that the practice of Ekadashi had physical/health

benefits and the other believed it had a spiritual significance and is

practised for spiritual reasons. Whether one view prevails over the other,

is immaterial because one can at least see that both can go hand in hand.

No one can really dispute the fact that chances are that both Sri

Sreekrishna and Sri Parthasarathy Dileepan are equally right by the merits

of how they are viewing an issue. Both presentations are acceptable since

one can perhaps find an equal number of people agreeing with each of them.

It depends on how one looks at it and/or what one wants to look at. A good

parallel for this is the practice of Sandhyavandanam. Whether one

practices it because one is so ordained to do so or because one can

actually experience just the physical, just the spiritual or both benefits,

everybody can agree that it is a good practice to adopt and pass on to the

next generation.

 

In this context, the saying, "Seeing is believing" may still be regarded as

true because I guess one believes what one thinks one sees. We now know for

sure that different people can look at one thing and get different ideas

about what they are actually seeing. This is perhaps why we often get

different accounts of an incident witnessed by many. This sort of thing

happens very frequently and a clear example of it in recent history is the

crash of TWA Flight 800. Different eye witnesses had different accounts of

what exactly they saw happened in the sky as they viewed it from below. And

to this day, no one knows exactly what happened. That is, no one knows the

truth or true cause of the incident. Of course we can also dismiss the

entire issue saying what happened was inevitable because it was destined to

happen! Do we stop there ? No! Each of us will try to find an explanation

in accordance with our backgrounds, beliefs and misbeliefs that we grew up

with and still retain in our system.

 

Can we take this analogy and apply to many an issue being contemplated

among us in general and this group in particular ?

Here is a list of issues that have been debated in recent weeks:

 

1. Whether it is proper for Srivaishnavas to worship any deity

other than Sriman Narayana ?

2. Who is the Lord of the universe, whether it is Narayana, Shiva or

someone else ?

3. What is the role of Bhakti and Prapatti in life on earth ?

4. What should be the role of our religious heads ?

5. What should be the approach to learning the basics of our

sampradayam?

6. What exactly is the significance of daily rites, rituals, and

worship for Srivaishnavas ?

7. What are the codes of conduct for Srivaishnavas with Atman

Paramatman and other Jevaatmas of coexistence ?

8. Body-Soul relationship

and so on and so forth.

 

In my opinion, every one of the above has a commom denominator which is:

"POINT OF VIEW". That is, depending on the point or points of view of the

people examining these issues, different conclusions can be and frequently

are arrived at. Let us examine a few cases in point notwithstanding the

fact of course that this is again another "point of view". What I am

driving at is that we learn to respect others points of view no matter what

the age difference is and no matter what the generation is. I think

therefore, that conferences should be the forum to address and seek answers

to questions such as above which get debated but end up being inconclusive.

 

In this context, I would like to quote Sri Vijay Srinivasan's brilliant

observations in his latest posting on this list and offer my comments.

Vijay said,

 

".........................I also thank Rama Balasubramaniam for her

clarifications on mine and Shri Krishna Kalales postings. My involvement

with the local temple activities has highly stressed the need for

cooperation between the Smarthas and the Vaishnavas and even beyond

(between the North and South Indians). Therefore I think it is very

important for us to know each others viewpoint on matters of worship and

particularly temple worship. I have always found that a temple program

that involves everyone in a spirit of cooperation irrespective of their

lindividual leanings adds to everyones joy. As asthikas we are all

scattered in different parts of this country and since it is difficult for

any single group to sustain their own traditional institution, it has

rather become a necessity here that we come together To begin with, most

Vaishnavas assume that Smarthas are either Saivites or Shakthas (Sri Vidya

Upasakas). After one attends one of their poojas one begins to understand

that Vishnu also gets a place in their worship (sometimes a primary place

in their Panchayatana Pooja and sometimes much to the discomfort of a

Vaishnava - For eg. as in Rudra Mahanyasam it is said that "Vishnu: Padhau

Thishtathy"). The fact that they conclude all their poojas with "Kayena

Vacha... Narayanethy Samparpayami" brings the Vaishnavas closer to them.

When it comes to performing a Homam the concluding part of a "Smartha

performed Homam" is more Vaishnavistic than what Vaishnavas perform. While

offering the Poornahuti the mantra "Vishnave Swahaha - Vishnavae

PARAMAATMANE idam na mama" is common to both, some of the slokas used in

the smartha sampradayam for the Agni-Pradakshinam identifies Madhava with

Yagnya Purusha and it is indeed pleasing to hear. For some reason we dont

say them. The mantras used in all vaidika samskaras are common to both

sampradayams and for anyone who has a little knowledge in these things it

becomes clear that Lakshmi-Narayana take a primary place.

 

Added to this we have Adi Sankaras Bhaja Govindam as his most important and

final message where he pours out his love for Govinda. People like Krishna

Premi who grew up in the Smartha tradition and turning into a Narayana

worshipper to the exclusion of other things is indeed striking. Also all

Sanyasis in the smartha sampradayam signing as "Narayana Smruti". Smarthas

Bhajana Sampradayam is another striking example of Vishnu worship. All

these things sometimes make me wonder - what is it that is making the

smarthas hesitate to go forward and openly accept Vishnus Sarvottama. "

 

 

Vijay: In my opinion, It is not so important why others didn't do what we

do or did, as it is to recognize the common roots of the heritage of all of

us who adore and worship one of the Trinity of Gods or other devas, as you

yourself has pointed out. Recently, I came across the following in one of

the contemporary books on religion (author unknown) which seems to

reiterate our points of view.

 

"................................... In their deep deliberations endowed

with rich imagination on the phenomenon called LIFE, our wise ancestors,

the Rishis, discovered an unbroken current of unity and harmony underlying

the expressions of life at all levels, from the Macrocosmic to Microcosmic

planes. They discovered a great truth which they passed down to posterity,

that we live in a cosmos and not in chaos; that we live in a system which

has its precise laws and goal. They visualized the grand panorama of

evolution at work, and every expression of life through various forms and

names as definite stepsin this evolutionary unfoldment. And each expression

of life, irrespective of whether at the macrocosmic or microcosmic level,

has three broad stages, viz., the birth, growth and death; every expression

of life had a beginning, existence for a given period of time, and the

disappearance. This process of birth, growth and death is a continuous

chain, taking place over and over again. At each appearance or expression,

a little progress, alittle advancement is made in the scale of evolution.

 

This march of evolution is controlled and guided at all stages by the One

Supreme Power behind it all. When our attention is focused on the grand

phenomenon of creation, the innumerable forms and bodies that are created

through which Life expresses, the innumerable planes and worlds for it to

exist and expand, we wonder the tremendous resourcefulness of this wise

creative force. When we observe the progress of life in and through all

challenges and limitations, growing richer in experience and wisdom at

every step, we wonder at the Power of this Long Strident One (Vishnu) , the

all pervading power, in whose gigantic sweep, the whole phenomenon of life

is gracefully moving ahead in the pilgrimage to perfection. And again, when

we observe how this great world is ever kept young and fresh, with an

inbuilt capacity to recycle its wastes and values and freshen up

continuously at the physical, mental and intellectual levels, we bow in

silent adoration to that Supreme wisdom behind it all, whose power allows

no stagnation and whose auspicious grace bestows all beauty and

nourishment.

 

This is often attributed to the concept of the Universe of the Trinity, the

universe governed by the One Great Lord who is revealed to the seekers as

having the triple aspects of Creation, Sustenance and Annihilation , each

one presided over by His own powers, the Primordeal Deities, Brahma, Vishnu

and Maheswara. And under each of the great Trinity, big families were

symbolically bestowed by the rich imagination of the Rishis, to strike a

note of familiarity with the human system of life. Thus the deities were

wedded to their Divine Consorts as we know them

today...................................."

 

In another context on the same subject, I have seen another author say as

folows:

 

"............................Adi Shankara, one of the greatest

saint-philosopher-reformer whom India has seen after the Puranic era, was

instrumental in unifying the various factions of Hinduism under the broad

accommodative umbrella of Advaita philosophy. To him goes the credit of

consolidating the various forms of worship of the Gods into a comprehensive

six fold system which came to be known in later years as "Shanmata", the

"Six Systems". They are the Vaishna, Saiva, Shakta, Saura, Ganapatya and

Kumara systems of worship, each having Vishnu, Siva, Shakti, Sun, Ganapati

and Kartikeya as their presiding deities respectively. These were not

mutually exclusive systems. But all of them were based on the Vedic tenets,

the Sanatana Dharma. These systems were advocated with a view to foster

Vedically approved systems of worship of the respective deities, under whom

the faiths of the people prevailing at that time were categorized so that

each group could progress in the right direction in their own faiths and

chosen fields of worship, and ultimately come to recognize the Oneness of

the Supreme Truth into which all these systems ultimately

merge...................................."

 

It is human nature to nurture and develop what one believes in as long as

the belief sustains itself. This I believe our Poorvacharyas did. For

example, Sri Ramanujacharya, Sri Desikan and other acharyas not only

absorbed the tenets of Vaishnava philosophy that precede them but used

their intellectual genius to take the siddhantam to new heights. Hence, no

one should really be surprised to hear praise of Sriman Naarayana; prose,

poetry, discourses etc. in praise of Sriman Narayana on this list. This

list is after all dedicated to exploring, pontificating and learning about

Srivaishnavism. We wouldnt call ourselves Srivaishnavas unless we show our

total allegiance to Sriman Narayana. It is therefore unnecessary for anyone

to express their annoyance or displeasure when a Srivaishnava makes

assertive statements emphasizing the Srivaishnava philosophy and his or her

faith in it. Such assertions should not be the basis for anyone wanting to

be excused from the list. But we all owe it to our acharyas and unto

ourselves to work towards new goals within the siddhantam and also a common

goal of preserving and perpetuating our Sanatana Dharma which is a

framework of our siddhantam.

 

Our system of religion or any system of religion within the framework of

Sanatana Dharma for that matter, is not perfect nor is it universal.

Anything and everything, as long as it is man-made though Divine-inspired,

has to undergo changes, improvements and reformations in order to be valid

among changing circumstances, to encompass more and more points of view

growing out of intellectual thinking over generations and sometimes just to

survive. But one cannot change a system from outside; it has to be done

from within. People who quit, will be powerless and also the losers. It is

therefore important that the conferences on Sri Vaishnavism should strive

not only to explore and reexplore the established siddhantam but devote an

equal amount of time to explore new avenues to expand acceptance of the

Siddhantam world wide and importantly by our youth so that the siddhantam

will be perpetuated in generations to come.

 

I had the privilege of participating in two conferences recently. The first

one was organized by Dr. M.G. Prasad at The Bridgewater temple and

secondly, the SDDS conference in Pomona NY was organized by Sri Anbil

Ramaswamy. At these conferences my family and I enjoyed in our own humble

way, four things: a )Bhagavat Kainkaryam, b) Bhagavat Sankeertanam, c)

Bhaagavat Sravanam and Bhaagavat Sevam. The most gratifying thing was to

meet so many Bhaagavatas in person. Many of them belong to this list. It is

one thing to exchange views and ideas over a network of computers, it is

entirely another matter to meet them face to face. We can resolve

differences if any, by speaking in person rather than posting pages on the

internet. Both the leaders recognized the need for getting representations

from ordinary people like me who sought answers to some of the mundane but

practical problems of life from those who knew our sampradayam best. The

answers that we got were satisfying in some ways and not so satisfying in

others. Nevertheless, we have made a start and let us continue the effort

in the name of our Lord Narayana and the great seekers of truth , our

acharyas. Let us show it to the younger generation what it means to

practice our religion through examples, frank discussions with them and by

generating curiosity followed by respect among them not only for our

traditions but also for our open mindedness to respect the views of others

including their own.

 

 

Adiyen.

 

 

Keshava Prasad.